I'm about to reserve a room for a couple nights in London, and was curious about past experiences.

Obviously hostels are going to differ...some probably are hell and some are probably luxurious. But to give you an idea, I'm going for the cheapest option, an 8 person mixed dorm. Have any of you had bad experiences in dorms with a lot of people? What about bags, do they tend to have places to store luggage or do you have just tuck it under your bed and pray it doesn't get stolen?

Just...general experiences would be appreciated.

Well good luck mate. Hostels (especially cheap ones) are full of chavs and blacks who like to constantly knock on your door asking you for a spare cig.

i went to london and was in a dorm, man it sucked. how much you lookin to spend? look at the grange hotels, you can find a place for 60 quid at the last minute, if you wanna spend way less than that, then go for a dorm i guess- make sure yo ugot internet access, or else go to Mc D for internet lol

hey man...when you goin?

check out the campuses, during the summer sometimes they'll rent out the dorms there twosies and threesies for cheap.

I stayed in a Belushi's hostel in London, in Camden, and it was fine.

Just read the reviews on the hostel booking websites, they're usually reliable.

Know which one? A friend of mine from Italy stayed in a hostel in London for 6 months and loved it.

There's always a locker to put your stuff. Get ear plugs because half of your bunkmates will snore.

I've stayed in a number of hostels and found them a bit hit and miss and tend to fall into the falling categories:

1. Full of pissed up Austrailians
2. Full of Euro types who keep themselves to themselves (mostly not too bad)
3. Japs\Korean places - probably the best of the lot

Warmest regards

DTfR

Might as well update:

I stayed in a UK hostel, about 6 miles from London. This particular one was really nice as far as cleanliness, furniture, etc. but...I think that's really just going to depend on where you are. There was also a pub connected to the hostel, so that was great to be able to sit there for a couple hours slowly getting drunk, talking with locals.

As far as people...people from all over really. I didn't feel uncomfortable sleeping around 5 or 6 other people, and it seemed like everyone else was cool with it as well. If I were to guess, I think the only problem one might encounter with the dorms is being a lone traveller and having a large group of douchebags in the same room. But yeah, that's always an issue with our 18-25 age group.

The most fun thing was people who didn't speak a lot of English, though I happen to be fond of languages.

Freaking Aussies are EVERYWHERE! I don't get it. They get free airfare or something?

If you're going with your GF, you won't be sharing a room in England, but in France and the Netherlands, they're cool with that.

Breakfast varies, from full-spread, impossible-to-stomach food in England to simple pieces of delicious bread in France. Go figure.

I hear the hostels in Scandinavia have co-ed saunas. Be almost worth the trip just to see that.